Reviewer's Choice

The Illusion of God's Presence: The Biological Origins of Spiritual Longing blends science and
spirituality as it considers the origins of the intuitive feeling of God's presence, and considers the
biological roots of this feeling. The author is a neuroscientist who argues here that evolution has
been programmed in the human brain, which expects the presence of a loving being from infancy
onwards. Chapters consider how interpretations of God evolve from biological origins from
infancy and offer new perceptions on the nature of supreme beings and belief systems grounded
in human perception. The result is a different interpretation and consideration of how God is felt
in human lives.

The Needlecraft Shelf

50 Nifty Thrifty Upcycled Fashions : Sew Something From Nothing teaches the basics of how to
create a new wardrobe from old pieces and thrift store finds, and offers not just sewing tips, but
ideas for finding materials, designing garments, and making embellishments. All ideas are based
on items typically found in a thrift store environment, while instructions use basic machine- and
hand-sewing skills and teach not just specific projects, but the kinds of techniques that lend to
assessing thrift store finds for their potential for recycling and change. Sewers and shoppers will
find this filled with exciting ideas and possibilities for repurposing clothing.

Pieced Hexies: A New Tradition in English Paper Piecing offers traditional methods of hexie
piecing by profiling seven different patterns and adding variations on their themes. With
step-by-step instructions and bright color photos at every step, quilters will enjoy a clear visual
approach to this old form of quilt making: one which begins laying foundations for
understanding the paper piecing process, then builds upon them with bright, easy projects. With a
surprising variety that can be achieved with just a few designs, quilters new to the concept will
find everything they need to make piecing a snap - and, to make for an inviting project!

Pieced Hexies Deux: 10 New Designs to Rock Your Quilts provides the second book in Mickey
Depre's focus on hexie design possibilities, offering five symmetrical designs, six asymmetrical
designs, and six hexie star designs along with English paper piecing and basting instructions.
Quilters with a special affection for the hexie approach will find this collection of stars and
patterns employs innovative approaches to achieve refreshingly different results. Fans who
appreciated the first coverage will find even more projects and fun approaches in Pieced Hexies
Deux.

Lissa Alexander's Moda All-Stars All in a Row: 24 Row-by-Row Quilt Designs
(9781604687293, $26.99) places its designs in three categories - patchwork, seasonal quilts, and
playful designs - and uses blender rows to tie the themes together. Quilting groups and those who
would put together rows with different combinations and results will find the step-by-step
illustrations and instructions snap, while a quilt gallery offers many new ideas for a number of
combinations. The result, with its bright quilt photos, easy directions and options for innovations,
is recommended for seasoned quilters and novices alike. Sara Lawson's Windy City Bags: 12
Handbags and Totes Sewn with Structure and Style (9781604685992, $27.99) provides a new
collection of designs with designer bags that hold a good amount of things, yet are easy to carry,
bright and attractive, and affordable and easy to make. Patterns for twelve such bags display bags
that make for perfect gifts, and discuss how to tweak designs and accent them with fabric,
zippers, pockets and more. The focus on customization makes for a range of projects that hold
infinite possibilities, making this a special pick for needleworkers looking for practical,
appealing new approaches to purses and handbags.

The Mystery/Suspense Shelf

Dark Places provides a fine new Red River mystery that takes place at the end of 1967, when the
Parker family finds it impossible to escape crime and chaos. Teen Top still can't fit into the
family's new small Texas community or forget the recent crimes that have taken place, while his
cousin runs away to California at the same time as two businessmen are kidnapped and murdered
in town. Constable Ned Parker suspects the different events are connected, but his search for
Pepper leaves the investigation in Sheriff Cody Parker's hands, and when Deputy Anna Sloan is
hired, trouble really begins in an explosion of guns and chases. Mystery fans seeking fast-paced
action and high drama will find the entwined relationships of family, townspeople and murderers
to be just the ticket for adventure.

The Cookbook Shelf

Patisserie Made Simple: From Macarons to Millefuille and More offers a focus on French
desserts and pastries that are surprisingly easy for beginners to make, and covers a range of
cookies, pastries, breads and more. Most French pastry cookbooks are far too complicated for
novices, and most assume a good degree of prior pastry-making knowledge, so it's delightful to
find a simpler step-by-step guide made for newcomers that pairs easy instructions with coverage
of basic techniques. Eclairs, croissants, flan, truffles - all are surprisingly simple to put together.
Add full-page color photos and you have a lovely production that places the classics of French
pastry in the hands of relative novices in a delightfully easy exploration.

Fermented Vegetables: Creative Recipes for Fermenting 64 Vegetables & Herbs covers not just
the usual pickles and krauts, but chutneys, relishes, pastes, kimchis, and more. Virtually anything
that can be fermented is the subject of this book, which promotes eating fermented vegetables
because they are delicious, and who share recipes for dozens of vegetables and herbs and
methods developed during their years as farmstead food growers. Over a hundred recipes for
preserving over sixty different vegetables and herbs teach the basics of making new food from
familiar techniques: with this approach, sauerkraut is made using not just cabbage but carrots and
fennel, and kimchi can evolve from asparagus and snow peas. No special skills are required: all
that's needed is a few jars or a crock, some salt, and fresh produce - and this cookbook, which
provides recipes that include what to do with the fermented results.

Amy Choate and Annie Miller's Naked Nutrition: Whole Foods Revealed (9781462117727,
$21.99) offers a cookbook packed with whole foods dishes for every meal, and pairs nutrition
information with step-by-step instructions to incorporate healthier foods into the family diet.
Lovely color photos throughout by Marilyn Choate accompanies dishes and embellishments that
are hard to find outside of a home kitchen, from a Lemon Lavender Dressing for salad to Carrot
Hummus for dipping or adding to soup, a hearty breakfast casserole of potatoes, sweet potatoes
and peppers, topped with raw cashews, garlic, and spices, or homemade milks such as Sesame
Milk (high in calcium) or a coconut Pumpkin Spice drink for winter. All are different, appealing,
and easy to put together with a minimum of specialty ingredients. Stephanie Brubaker's Brownies
Blondies and Bars (9781462116942, $19.99) comes from the creator of the food blog
BackforSeconds.com and offers recipes for different kinds of dessert bars, from Peanut Butter
Cinnamon Blondies to Mint Fudge Stuffed Brownies and Hot Fudge Peanut Butter Cup
Cheesecake Brownies. All pair with fine color photos of finished dishes throughout.

The Antiques/Collectibles Shelf

Any serious coin collector will want to obtain the 20th volume in Whitman Publishing's Bowers
series, A Guide Book of Barber Silver Coins: A Complete History and Price Guide. It provides
instructions on grading and smart collecting and pairs this information with the latest market
prices in up to twelve grades, a history of dates, mintmarks and details for Barber dimes, quarters
and half dollars, and packs in good-sized black and white and color illustrations throughout, from
coins to ads and reference materials. Everything is here that the Barber silver coin collector needs
to keep up with the latest trends.

This third edition of a classic follows techniques professionals use and has been revised,
expanded and updated by Gail Brett Levine, G.G. to provide the latest information on industry
techniques and standards. It adopts a step-by-step approach and assumes little prior knowledge of
the process as it covers everything from building an appraising practice and considering ethical
issues to the process of cataloging, photographing, documenting, and valuing gems and jewelry.
Everything is illustrated with photos, worksheets, and illustrations and discussions on differing
approaches to valuation are precise and clear, offering a resource packed with charts and
specifics for all kinds of jewelry, from pearls and Mexican pieces to ivory and unique designs.
Appraisers, jewelry collectors, insurance professionals and others will find Gems & Jewelry
Appraising an invaluable reference.

The Education Shelf

Transition planning is no easy topic to pose to students; but teachers will find it an easier process
with Henry B. Reiff and Nicole S. Ofiesh's Teaching for the Lifespan (9781483373843, $30.00),
which helps teachers prepare students with learning challenges enter adulthood. It uses the latest
brain research and best practices to tailor approaches teachers can use to help students capitalize
on their abilities for the rest of their lives and it helps this group handle educational demands and
assessments with successful results. From personal stories from adults with learning differences
and suggestions from teachers to tips on incorporating these strategies into an inclusive
classroom setting, this is a powerful guide all teachers should own. Sam Gilksman's Creating
Media for Learning: Student-Centered Projects Across the Curriculum (9781483385433, $25.00)
shows educators how to better communication skills by using media in the classroom. Chapters
show how to blend student media projects into curriculum objectives, offering strategies to make
students experts at media investigations sing any device. From how and why to encourage
students to use media to projects that use different media across devices, this adopts a
wide-ranging perspective in helping students blend familiar visuals and media approaches with
their own research objectives. From content-focused projects to setups for green screen video
shoots, teachers and students can work together to make the most of media opportunities to
enhance curriculum objectives.

The Fantasy/SciFi Shelf

1635: A Parcel of Rogues tells of a diplomatic embassy from the United States of Europe who
have remained in Britain after freedom and who face a hunt for one of the biggest rebels in
English history. While history buffs will be especially delighted by the continuing evolution of
Flint's alternate history world, non-buffs will appreciate the attention to adventure and details that
incorporate events even they can readily understand without such an expertise. Intrigue, political
encounters, and the ongoing struggles of a group of present-day time-travelers who have
inadvertently been jettisoned into a very different past will continue to attract prior Flint fans and
will likely create a new audience of readers interested in the progression of this alternate
world.

Turning Skills and Strengths into Careers for Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder: The
Basics College Curriculum provides a handbook to learning independence and life skills and
helps students prepare for job interviews, write a resume, consider internships, and craft
career-building strategies. Chapters can be used for self-study or in a college-level ASD program
and they compile exercises and self-assessment tools in a workbook packed with options and
approaches. This book serves as a companion to the authors' prior volumes and offers a
curriculum that helps support young adults with ASD through the college and career years.

Autism and the Stress Effect: A 4-Step Lifestyle Approach to Transform Your Child's Health,
Happiness and Vitality provides an approach the whole family can use to change their lifestyle to
better support the autistic child, and offers insights into nutrition, managing environment, and
how to help a child cope with life's pressures. From providing a child with directions on how to
approach a peer to taking advantage of the autistic child's ability to process visual information,
this handbook uses the typical autistic personality traits to best advantage, tailoring them to a
family-oriented approach that will better support not just the autistic child, but all who live and
encounter them.

Angelette Muller's Supernourishment for Children with Autism Spectrum provides a nutritional
approach to a diet for optimum brain and body health by encouraging parents to transition such a
child to a different kind of diet. It explores how diet supports brain function, it considers the
latest science that revolves around how children with autism process foods, and it offers recipes
for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks which are simple for parents to prepare. In focusing on
meal plans parents can produce for the entire family that support better brain activity for autism
children in particular, Muller offers a treasure trove of positive information.

The Psychology Shelf

Jennifer Guest's The CBT Art Activity Book packs in some 100 creative activities designed for
both group and individual therapy settings to help adults and young people apply cognitive
behavioral therapy techniques to art to explore self-esteem, anger management, problem solving
and more. These take the form of coloring pages in the zentangle style which can be used for
stress management and positive approaches reinforcing CBT therapy. The photocopiable coloring
designs will appeal to therapist seeking to integrate art into the CBT process.

The Audiobook Shelf

If Someone Says "You Complete Me," RUN!: Whoopi's Big Book of Relationships isn't about
the author's own relationships, so don't expect a biographical sketch. It's about solutions to
relationship issues and how to avoid big mistakes by identifying early warning signs, and it is
best digested in bits and pieces by any listener who would better understand the ironies,
inconsistencies, and outrageous moments that lie in wait in relationships. Replete with comedian
Goldberg's unique brand of humor, this is an engrossing listen for any who would enjoy a blend
of fun insights and thought-provoking moments.

Oscar Hijuelos' Twain & Stanley Enter Paradise (9781478960331, $40.00) offers a powerful
unabridged audio story narrated by James Langton, Polly Lee, Henry Leyva and Robert Petkoff,
who provide a powerful production that brings to life a 37-year friendship between two late 19th
century figures: Mark Twain and explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley. Literary award-winner
Hijuelos was fascinated by their connection and researched and wrote his novel after scouring the
little history that remained of their friendship. He worked on the project for some ten years even
as he wrote and published other novels: the result is a rich discussion of historical fiction that is
especially gripping in audio format. David Baldacci's The Guilty (9781478929994, $40.00)
centers around assassin Will, who works for the government as a professional hit man,
infiltrating hostile countries and defeating America's enemies. But when he fails a mission, he
becomes a loner with no purpose to life, and he must confront his past to move beyond his stalled
present. Kyf Brewer and Orlagh Cassidy lend a fine reading and tension to the thriller, making
this a 'must listen' for any who like stories of psychological self-inspection and intrigue.

The Metaphysical Studies Shelf

The Oil Pulling Miracle: Detoxify Simply and Effectively shows how to use coconut, sesame and
other oils to heal chronic conditions and strengthen the immune system, and provides insights
into one of the ancient healing systems involved in Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine.
Oil pulling focuses on the mouth and tongue and how to clean them, removing toxins from the
bloodstream and triggering enzyme production and other healthy reactions which spread through
the entire body. This guide offers specifics on how to use different oils, other oral care techniques
to compliment it, and draws connections between oil pulling and other detox techniques. A
step-by-step program is offered to complete the information.

The Crafts Shelf

Two new Walter Foster titles are lovely project guides loaded with fresh new ideas suitable for
families or art camps alike. Pop-Up Cards by Emily Gregory (9781633220591, $19.95) covers all
the folds, slots, tabs, and paper engineering directions kids will need to make pop-up cards from
scratch. Step-by-step instructions cover thirty handmade cards arranged by technique to reinforce
basic pop-up mechanical skills, while inspirations include designs for birthdays and all kinds of
celebrations. Lorie King Kaehler's Chalk on the Wild Side (9781633220218, $19.95) encourages
families to move beyond sidewalk applications to make chalk and use chalk in a range of
designs, from making ice chalk volcanoes and foaming chalk to working with frozen fizzy chalk.
The color illustrations and step-by-step instructions are easy to follow and produce satisfyingly
varied results.

Bead Play Every Day: 20+ Projects with Peyote, Herringbone & More offers a different approach
to bed stitching and teaches basic techniques that can build different necklaces and jewelry
pieces, from open weaves to diamond stitches. Close-up step-by-step images of the bead
approaches blend with lovely finished projects to make for a winning collection especially
accessible to newcomers to jewelry-making in general or these stitches in particular.